At Kindt Clinics, you overcome your fear of mice and rats
We are a team of experienced psychologists and a general practitioner, specialized in the treatment of fears and phobias. For this, we use the fast and effective Memrec method, based on the latest developments in neuroscience.
Our goal is to help you live a life free from unnecessary fear.
Musophobia is debilitating
Many people are afraid of mice or rats. After all, they are considered pests. However, if the fear of encountering a rat or mouse is excessive, it is called musophobia or ratophobia.
Even though you may know rationally that a mouse or rat cannot be life-threatening, that knowledge becomes irrelevant the moment you see one. The fear takes over.
Because mice and rats cannot be completely avoided in daily life, these phobias can be very debilitating.
Symptoms of mouse or rat phobia
In the brain of someone with musophobia, an unnecessary connection has formed between mice and fear.
Every time you see a mouse, your body responds as though you are in great danger.
Panic response
High heart rate
Sweating
Cramping
Shaking
Urge to escape
Quick and effective treatment of mouse or rat phobia
Kindt Clinics was founded by Prof. dr. Merel Kindt from the University of Amsterdam. After 20 years of scientific research into the human brain, she developed a new way of treating irrational fears, called the Memrec (memory reconsolidation) method. Memrec has an 85% success rate and takes place in two short sessions over the course of 24-48 hours.
Three appointments
Intake interview (online), treatment, and outcome test.
High success rate
With 85% of our patients, the treatment is successful.
Permanent result
After a successful treatment, the fear does not return.
Experiences of others
Watch a treatment
If you suffer from a fear of mice and/or rats, you might prefer not to see images of these animals. Therefore, this video shows parts of a treatment for acrophobia and fear of chickens at Kindt Clinics (from the Canadian documentary program The Nature of Things).
Until minute 09:40, it discusses the Memrec method for acrophobia and fear of chickens. The remainder of the program covers other scientific aspects related to fear.
Note: At minute 32:28, spiders will appear on screen.
Read about Tineke's experience
“I have had a very positive experience at Kindt Clinics. By going to Kindt Clinics, I have overcome my (51-year-long) fear of rats. Kindness, involvement, expertise, and result – these are words that best summarize my treatment.”
Read more
Frequently asked questions about the treatment of rat and/or mouse phobia
Below are the most frequently asked questions about the treatment. Feel free to contact us for any other questions.
What does the treatment of mice or rat phobia look like?
On the day of the treatment, you come to Kindt Clinics. We have a chat, and when you’re ready, you accompany the therapist to a room containing a mouse or rat in a cage or container. The therapist assists you in properly evoking the fear. Of course, you are never surprised or forced to do anything. Afterward, you receive the pill (a beta-blocker), and you stay with us for 1.5 hours for the rest period.
A day (or a few days) later, you return, and we test the effect. Ideally, you will immediately notice that the intense physical reaction is absent when you see the mouse or rat again. We take the time to help you adjust to this experience and build confidence.
Subsequently, we keep in touch, and you are always welcome for an additional practice session.
Do I need to come close to a real mouse or rat?
For the treatment to be successful, we need to work with a real mouse or rat. What is needed to properly trigger the fear varies from person to person. However challenging it may be, it helps if you surrender to this once. Of course, we never surprise or force you.
What is the science behind the treatment?
Like muscle memory, we also have emotional memory. Emotional memory tells our bodies how to feel and react to different situations. If you have a phobia of mice, your emotional memory contains an unnecessary connection between mice and fear. This causes your body to respond with fear as soon as you see or even think of a mouse.
The Memrec treatment is based around altering this emotional memory in one treatment session – changing how your body responds when you are confronted with your fear.
This change can only be made by first triggering the relevant emotional memory. The best way to do this is by briefly confronting you once, with an actual mouse or rat. We help you to approach your fear, and tell you when to stop when the fear is sufficiently activated. After that, we give you a single dose of a beta-blocker. This pill is usually taken to lower blood pressure but serves a different function in this treatment. It blocks specific receptors in the brain. Thereby, it interferes with how the fear memory that has been activated during the treatment is re-saved in the brain during sleep.
As a result, the connection between mice or rats and fear is significantly weakened overnight. The next day, the body no longer exhibits a strong fear response when seeing a mouse or rat. Instead, you have a more neutral reaction and often even feel curiosity towards mice and rats. We test the effect with you.
It’s a strange sensation to suddenly be able to be near a mouse or rat without panicking. Therefore we take the time to help you build confidence that the fear does not return.
What result can I expect?
A treatment is successful when the fear of mice and/or rats no longer hinders you in your daily life. No one is happy with a mouse or rat in the house, but the excessive reaction has disappeared.
What are the chances of success with this treatment?
83% of treatments for musophobia and ratophobia succeed on the first attempt, with an additional 7% succeeding on the second attempt. The effect is permanent.